Among the most harmful E-cigarette flavors is the cherry one.
According to the latest study, cherry flavored E-cigarettes irritate the airways of smokers. The chemical substance called benzaldehyde that is present in most flavored E-cigs, but especially on the cherry flavored ones, doesn’t go easy on the throat of the person that inhales it.
The benzaldehyde chemical substance affects the entire air tract from the throat to the lungs. Additional research revealed that the vapor form of the chemical can also irritate the eyes of an individual.
Benzaldehyde is commonly used as a flavoring agent in a wide array of fields. The chemical can be found in cosmetics, foods, and even medicines, and is generally considered to be harmless, but not when turned to vapor. In gaseous form, the benzaldehyde substance can produce a severe irritation on the air tract level, especially if ingested in large quantities.
In order to reach these conclusions, the researchers examined a total sample of 145 different flavored E-cigarettes. The flavors and proportions used in the study were 10 cherry, 10 menthol or mint, 11 tea or coffee, 11 sweet or chocolate, 15 alcohol, 37 simple tobacco and 40 simple fruit, tropical fruit or berry and 11 other flavors, like bubblegum or jelly beans.
The researchers extracted the equivalent of 30 puffs from the different flavored E-cigarettes and continued to measure the quantities of benzaldehyde present in each one.
Out of the total of 145 E-cigarettes that were tested, the presence of benzaldehyde was discovered in 108. From these 108, the most dangerous proved to be the cherry flavored ones, having a concentration of benzaldehyde 43 times higher than any of the other flavored E-cigarettes that were tested.
The researchers came to the obvious conclusion that the individuals that prefer to smoke the cherry flavored E-cigarettes inhale a dose of benzaldehyde that is significantly higher than other E-cigarette smokers.
What was more shocking was the fact that, even though they are advertised to pose a reduced health risk than normal cigarettes, the scientists discovered that the cherry flavored E-cigarettes contained a higher dose of the chemical substances than regular tobacco filled cigarettes.
A co-author of the study, Maciej Goniewic, a researcher at the Cancer Institute in Roswell Park, Buffalo, explained that the people that use E-cigarettes should attribute any side effects such as coughing, a sore throat and even an irritation at the eye level to the flavoring in an E-cigarette rather the cigarette itself.
The researchers also advised any E-cigarette user to switch flavors when confronted with a side effect.
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